The Secret Alias Conundrum
by SamiraGranger
Summary: A mistake from his past had finally caught up with him. He moved to Pasadena to get away from it all, but when circumstances cause him to get in touch with people from his past, things change. Only time will tell whether he made the right decision or not. {Rated M as a precaution}
1. Prologue & Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything you recognize. They belong to their respective owners, and it SUCKS! (what I wouldn't give to own at least one of the characters...)**_

_**AN: Okay, I had this idea hit me after watching two of my favorite tv shows one after the other. You might like it, you might not. If you do, great, if not, feed the flames of my inspiration. I sometimes write my best stuff when I'm ticked off. This deals with a 'what if' scenario I thought of, and I hope you enjoy it. **_

_The Secret Alias Conundrum_

_by SamiraGranger_

**Prologue**

Light flared around them, casting the two figures in shadow. The fire that was the result of the explosion that had destroyed the building behind them roared freely as it continued to burn to the ground. Because they were in the slums of the city, no one had arrived yet to attempt to stop the flames from consuming all that it touched. Saddened eyes were averted from the sight, wincing as the sound of a beam fell to the ground from within the wreckage. Soft sobs wracked the man's body as he pleaded to the man that was with him.

"Please! There's got to be something you can do!" The criminal was kneeling on the grimy ground outside of what used to be an abandoned warehouse, on his hands and knees in front of the vigilante. "He's found out... I have to get out of here, go into hiding somewhere. Please, I need... no, I _have_ to do this. At least so she will stay safe. I'm begging you, if not for me, do it for her. She's all that I have left in this city to care about, now that _he's_ destroyed most of the things I kept hidden away in my various hideouts." Looking at the ground as his hat fell off of his head, the man was desperate for the help that he knew the silent vigilante could provide. Tears ran down his cheeks, falling to the floor as blood soaked through his clothes. "_Please..._"

Silence reigned for what felt like hours before either of them said anything. "Alright," the vigilante finally said in a gruff voice. "I'll help you. But only on the condition that, should you ever return here, you will help me if I need your input on something."

The criminal looked up at the man's words. "Of course! I'll do anything, if it keeps her safe from _him_," he said, astonishment showing clearly on his face. "Thank you. Truly, thank you for doing this. I promise to stay away for as long as it takes to stop that... that man, demon, whatever he is. I already have everything set up, have for years. I just need to get out of here without _him_ noticing and then put a name on the documents..." He fell forward as something heavy hit him in the back of the head, the sound of sirens filling the air around him as he lost consciousness.

**Chapter One**

"...And now the kung pao chicken."

Sheldon Cooper, Leonard Hofstadter, and Rajesh Koothrappali watched as the robotic arm raised the take-out box of Chinese food from the bag and set it on the table. As Leonard and Rajesh watched the arm's movements with slight awe, Sheldon was looking at it, face blank, while Howard typed away on his laptop, already programming the arm's next set of movements. "And finally," Howard said, "my moo shu pork." When the arm reached back into the bag and pulled the said take-out box out, the three men watching clapped at the little show of technology. "There you have it, gentlemen. Our entire dinner unpacked by robot."

"And it only took twenty-eight minutes," Rajesh said, the Indian astrophysicist's accent as present as ever. While they began to grab their respective boxes of food, Howard leaned back in his chair, proud of the device that he had helped to build.

"Impressive," Sheldon remarked as he unwrapped a pair of chopsticks, "but we must be cautious."

Howard looked at him with a confused expression on his face. Although he knew he'd probably regret it, he couldn't help but ask, "Why?"

Sheldon paused what he was doing and looked at the Jewish man. "Today, it's a Chinese food retrieval robot," he explained to the aerospace engineer, as if it was obvious. "Tomorrow, it travels back in time and tries to kill Sarah Connor."

Used to this type of statement coming from the theoretical physicist, Leonard said, "I don't think that's gonna happen, Sheldon."

"No one ever does," the taller man refuted. "That's why it happens."

Suddenly, the door opened and a blonde woman walked in. "Hey," she said. "Is the food here?" As she closed the door behind her, she walked over to the robotic arm and looked it over. "Ooh, what's that?"

"That, dear lady," Howard said, leaning back with his hands across his chest, "is the Wolowitz Programmable Hand, designed for extravehicular repairs on the International Space Station."

She looked at it with a small, strained smile. Despite not understanding at least half of what the man had just said, she said, "Oh, cool."

"Ask me to pass the soy sauce." Howard was eager to show off what the robot could do again.

Penny looked at him and deadpanned, "Oh, does that come up much on the Space Station?"

"Mostly with Asian and Jewish astronauts," he replied, thinking the question was serious.

Deciding to humor the short man, Penny said, "All right, pass the soy sauce."

"Coming up." Clearing his throat, Howard leaned forward a bit and began typing away. As the seconds passed with the sound of typing filling the air, Penny, Leonard, Rajesh, and Sheldon all looked at each other as a slightly awkward silence fell over the room.

Deciding the try and break the silence, Leonard asked, "So how's work?"

"Oh, it's not bad," Penny said. "Kind of hungry."

Leonard quickly stated, "Yeah, we all are."

"Just wait," Howard said as he continued typing.

Feeling the overwhelming need to butt in, Sheldon said, "You realize, Penny, that the technology that went into this arm will one day make unskilled food servers such as yourself obsolete." Once again, he had made a jab at the fact that the young woman that lived across the hall from him and Leonard was working at the Cheesecake Factory, while the rest of the people in the room, besides Howard, who only had his masters, had doctorate degrees and worked at California Technical Institute, or CalTech, as it was more commonly referred as.

"Really?" Penny looked at him with a slightly confused look. "They're gonna make a robot that spits on your hamburger?"

As Rajesh and Leonard turned to look at Sheldon with amused glances, Sheldon turned to stare at his roommate. "I thought you broke up with her," he told the experimental physicist in a slightly irritated voice. "Why is she here?" Giving Leonard a small glare, Howard spoke up before he could respond.

"Okay, here we go," he said. "Passing the soy sauce." Hitting one final key, the robotic arm began moving.

Penny watched as it reached into the bag and pulled back out. "Hold out your hand," Howard instructed her, hand on his chin as he watched his creation in motion. Doing as told, Penny lowered her hand slightly as the robot put it's hand above her own. As it dropped a packet of sauce into her open palm, she began to chuckle.

"That's amazing," she exclaimed as she stood there, looking at the packet of soy sauce in her hand.

Sheldon scoffed. "I wouldn't say 'amazing'. At best, it's a modest leap forward from the basic technology that gave us Country Bear Jamboree." To the others, it seemed as if he honestly had no clue how rude what he had just said was to Howard.

Deciding to try and get back at the taller man, Howard said, "Hey, Sheldon?"

Sheldon looked at the engineer. "Yes?", he asked.

Howard hit a few keys on the keyboard of the laptop. The robotic hand moved, drawing the attention of the whole room as it swung around to face Sheldon. The hand raised itself into an upright position and lifted two fingers. They all stared at it, confused.

"Peace?" Sheldon was confused at what Howard was doing.

"No, not peace," Howard said, looking at the hand. "Hang on." He began typing again, trying to get the hand to do what he wanted it to do. Looking back up after he finished, he watched, smug, as one of the fingers lowered itself.

Penny and Leonard laughed a little as a look of comprehension appeared on Sheldon's face. "Ha, ha," he said, aiming a look of derision at the one male in the room that only had a master's degree. "That's not funny at all." The laughter quickly died down as Howard coughed slightly before typing again, and bringing the robotic arm into a different position.

Setting his laptop down, he got up from the chair he was sitting in and moved to sit down on the floor next to the ever-quiet Rajesh. Leonard quickly moved from sitting on the sofa to sit on the chair that Howard had just vacated, leaving the sofa open for Penny to sit in. As they all settled into their spots, all five of them grabbed a take-out box and began eating, like they seemed to always do. Passing the first couple of minutes in silence, Penny decided to ask something that was on her mind. "Does NASA know you're using that thing as a napkin holder?" Gesturing to the robotic arm that was, indeed, holding their napkins, they watched as Leonard leaned forward and grabbed one from the hand.

"Are you kidding?" Howard smiled at her, unsuccessfully trying to flirt with her, again. "They still think it's in a secure locker at JPL."

Sheldon's eyes widened a little as Penny said, "You stole it?"

Under the looks being sent his way, Howard's eyes flitted over them as he said, "Borrowed. The trick is to carry it out to your car like you own it." Just after he finished saying that, they heard the sound of a cell phone going off.

"Excuse me," Sheldon said, picking up his phone. Checking the text message he had just received, he said, "Oh, Amy's at the dry-cleaners, and she's made a very amusing pun." Clearing his throat, he read out loud what the girl had sent him. "'I don't care for perchloroethylene and I don't like glycol ether.'" Pausing, he looked around to see if anyone else had got the joke. Noticing the blank stares being sent at him, he asked, "Get it? She doesn't like glycol _ether."_ Seeing that they still didn't understand the joke, or just didn't care for it, he explained. "Sounds like _either_." Doing a little inhale-laugh that he had taken to doing whenever someone had said a joke, Sheldon used his finger to type out his reply. "L-O-L."

Penny was confused. Turning to Leonard, she asked, "Who's Amy?"

Gathering up another bite in his take-out box, Leonard looked up at Penny and said, "His girlfriend."

Penny stopped eating and snapped around to look at her ex-boyfriend. In shock, she exclaimed, "Sheldon has a girlfriend?"

The man in question just looked up at this and said, "She's not my girlfriend."

Ignoring the words said by the physicist, Penny asked Leonard, "How long has this been going on?"

"Four months," Leonard replied smugly.

Shaking his head, Sheldon again stated, "She's not my girlfriend."

Still ignoring the man that they were talking about while sitting right in front of him, Penny set down her food. "Are you telling me," she said, looking at Leonard, "for the past four months I have been asking you what's new and you never thought to go with 'Sheldon has a girlfriend'?"

Beginning to become annoyed with the bickering pair, Sheldon sighed. "She's not my girlfriend," he said to seemingly deaf ears.

Penny just shushed him as she gazed at Leonard with unbelieving eyes. She asked, "How did they meet?"

Howard jumped into the conversation to explain to Penny what he and Rajesh had done, since the Indian man couldn't speak in front of the female. "Raj and I entered Sheldon's information on a dating site," he said with pride, "and it spit out Amy Farrah Fowler."

Not being able to contain her shock, Penny burst out, "Oh, my God! Sheldon and Amy."

"Or as we call them," Howard said, "Shamy."

Penny squealed in delight, clasping her hands together in joy. "Shamy," she said. "I am so digging the Shamy."

Unable to handle the conversation a moment longer, Sheldon put his food down and stood up from what everyone called 'Sheldon's Spot'. "All right, everyone pay attention," he said, annoyance lacing his voice. "Yes, I have a friend named Amy Farrah Fowler. Yes, she is female. Yes, we communicate on a daily basis, but no, she is not my girlfriend." _And I should know,_ he thought to himself. _I already have a girlfriend._

Walking away from what he thought was the end of the conversation, he was stopped as Penny asked, "Okay, well, what do you communicate about?"

Looking back at the blonde, he said, "Well, my work in physics, her work on neurobiology, and most recently, the possibility of our having a child together." _Although that's mostly her idea, and not mine. _Keeping that last bit to himself, again, he walked behind the sofa as Penny spat out her drink at what he had said last.

As Sheldon walked over to the refrigerator to grab something to drink, Howard typed something onto his laptop. "Thank you," Penny said as she accepted a napkin from the robotic arm that had just extended out to her.

Leonard turned around in his chair to stare at his roommate as Sheldon got out the bottle of apple juice. "Wait a minute," Leonard said as he stared dumbfounded at the theoretical physicist, "a child? You never see this girl. You just e-mail and text and Twitter. Now you're considering having a baby?"

Sheldon looked at them as he mentally sighed. _Is this conversation never going to end?_ Keeping the thought to himself, as usual, he said, "Amy pointed out that between the two of us, our genetic material has the potential of producing the first in a line of intellectually superior, benign overlords to guide humanity to a brighter tomorrow." Turning around to grab a glass to put the juice in, he hid the look of disgust that crossed his face at the thought of what Amy had suggested. _I told her it would be a bad idea,_ he thought. _And now look at what is happening. I knew I should have told them I had a girlfriend already when I had the chance._

He heard as Howard whispered to Raj, "I'm guessing that future historians will condemn us for not taking this opportunity to kill Sheldon." Knowing that Raj was nodding in agreement, Sheldon mentally sneered at the idea that the two of them could possibly come close to killing him.

"Okay," Penny said standing up, "I have a question."

Sheldon looked up from pouring his drink and said, "Yes, Penny."

The girl walked over to him and said, "You don't even like people touching you. How are you gonna have sex?"

Looking up sharply at the highly unexpected question as he finished putting the cap back on the bottle of apple juice, Sheldon looked at Penny, being careful to make his expression blank. "Why on Earth would we have sex?", he asked, trying to keep what he truly felt about the idea from showing in his face. Turning away from the girl as he put the juice back in the fridge, he heard something that nearly made his blood boil in anger and indignity.

"Oh honey," Penny said, "did your mom not have the talk with you? You know, when your private parts started growing?"

Rage burned within him as he had to look away from his neighbor to keep himself from giving in to the urge to slap her. _I never even _knew_ my mother! My stupid and abusive father blamed me for her death,_ he thought, trying to keep his temper under control. "I'm quite aware of the way humans usually reproduce," he informed Penny, "which is messy, unsanitary, and, based on living next to you for three years, involves loud and unnecessary appeals to a deity." _Not that I would mind doing so, _he thought as he stared at her, thinking of his missing girlfriend.

"Oh, God," Penny groaned, embarrassed.

"Yes, exactly." Walking passed the stunned blonde with his drink, he stopped at the entrance of the hallway that led to his and Leonard's bedrooms. "Consequently, if Amy and I choose to bring new life into this world," he said, seeing a semi-perfect opportunity to further embarrass the blonde girl, "it will be accomplished clinically, with fertility experts in a lab with petri dishes." Turning back to Penny, he had to hide a smirk as he carefully chose his next words. "Which reminds me, you have broad hips and a certain corn-fed vigor. Is your womb available for rental?"

Giving her a look that was sure to make her think that he was being serious, he was distracted when Leonard said, "Still digging the Shamy?" Looking at his roommate, he mentally rolled his eyes.

"Look, Sheldon," Penny said, getting Sheldon's attention back on her, "before you race off to the fertility clinic, you might want to think about, uh gee, I don't know, maybe actually spending some time with her."

Deciding to play the socially-ignorant fool, yet again, Sheldon said, "You mean dating?"

Penny smiled as she nodded her head. "Yeah," she said.

"I can't date Amy," he told her.

"Why not?"

Eyes widening at having to say it again, Sheldon mentally groaned. "She's not my girlfriend." Seeing that Penny was beginning to get exasperated with where this was going, he thought, _I would never willingly cheat on the girlfriend I already have._

"Okay, look," Penny finally said, completely missing his hidden point, "don't think of it as dating a girlfriend. Think of it as, uh, getting to know the future mother of your child."

Putting on a look of realization, Sheldon stated, "Oh. I hadn't considered that. I suppose she will have to have access to our progeny." Looking at Penny with raised eyebrows, he asked, "And you don't think I can achieve the required intimacy via text messaging?"

"Probably not," she told him.

"Huh," he said. "It would appear as if the phone companies have been lying to me." Making his way back to his seat, he sat down and picked up his food. _And it looks like I'll have to do something drastic to stop them from continuing the line of thought that they have taken, _he thought as he began to eat his food again, his previously good mood thoroughly ruined.

~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~

Closing the door to his bedroom about an hour and a half later, Sheldon's back slid down the door until he was sitting on the floor. Taking his contacts out of his eyes before he did anything else, he put the colored pieces of soft plastic back in their case and rubbed his eyes slightly to get used to not having the blue discs in them. Running a hand through his short brown hair, he let his eyes wander around the room. "What am I going to do about this?", he whispered to himself, making sure to keep his voice quiet to prevent Leonard from hearing him. "I... If Amy _does_ want to be my... my _girlfriend,_ I can't allow myself to get her hopes up."

His green eyes landed on the door to his closet. _It's been at least seven years since I last saw her,_ he thought as he slowly stood up. _Does she even still care about me? Do I even have the right to call her my girlfriend after pretty much abandoning her the way I was forced to? I didn't even have a chance to leave her a message about what was happening. Has she moved on with her life in my absence?_ With those questions and other similar ones floating around his head, he walked over to his closet and opened it. Looking at all the shirts he had hanging within the small space, he pushed them all to the sides, making an empty space in the middle of the shirts that allowed him to see the back wall of the closet.

Reaching a shaking hand out to touch the back of the small space, he felt the hidden panel that he had installed in the closet when he first moved into the building being pushed in slightly. Moving the panel to the side to reveal what was hidden behind it, he felt his whole body begin to shake in fear as he stared at the complete, immaculately folded outfit that was laying within the hidden compartment. Picking up the hat that was laying on top of the pile of clothes and setting it to the side, he gulped at the sight of the phone that had been sitting underneath the hat ever since he had arrived in Pasadena, California. Slowly, he picked the prepaid phone up and set the hat back down on top of the outfit.

Turning the little flip-phone over in his hands, he let out a shuddering breath at what he was about to do. _This could very well be the one mistake that makes it where _he_ can find me, if he's still searching for me, that is,_ he thought. _But I don't care anymore. I've been hiding for too long as it is. I don't want to hide away for the rest of my life, I refuse to continue to pretend to be someone I'm not._ Making a decision that he hoped he wouldn't regret later on, he opened the phone and turned it on after plugging it onto a charger. Scrolling through the contacts list after a few minutes, he found the number he needed and hit the call button.

Holding the phone to his ear, he listened as the phone rang, waiting for the person on the other end to pick up. "_Hello?", _he heard in his ear.

Taking a deep, calming breath, he said, "Hey, Missy. It's... It's me. I'm sorry to be calling out of the blue like this, but could I possibly... Maybe... Talk to her? I already know that she's there, I've been keeping track of where she is these past few years. I... It's time for me to tell her the truth. I can't keep this up for much longer. I feel like I'm about to be lost inside this... this _monster_ I've created."

He heard nothing as he waited nervously for a response. "_S-sure, you can talk to her,_" Missy said. "_Just... Just let me get her in here right fast, okay?"_

Sheldon sighed as anxiety filled him. "Thank you, Missy," he said into the phone. "I really appreciate this. I just hope she understands."

"_So do I... Shelly," _Missy said before the sound of her handing the phone to someone echoed in his ear.

"_Hello?" _A light, feminine voice spoke into his ear in a soft soprano. "_Who is this? Why did __my sister call you 'Shelly'?"_

A small smile appeared on his face as a single tear ran down his cheek. "Hello, my dear," he said softly into his phone. "It's so good to hear your voice again." Hearing the new voice speaking into the phone, trying to understand who he was, he couldn't help but let out a quiet sob. "I miss you, so much. Please, I... I am so sorry. I didn't mean to disappear on you like that. Please, allow me to explain myself. I beg of you, little sphinx, hear me out. I'll explain everything to the best of my abilities. I just need you to be willing to hear what I have to say."

The other end of the line was silent for several minutes, almost making him think that the girl had hung up on him. His heart began to feel heavy, the idea that he wouldn't have the chance to redeem himself to the one person that mattered the most making him feel nauseous. "_A-alright," _he heard the feminine voice say finally. "_I'll let you explain yourself. Then I'll decide whether or not I want you to contact me again. The way you left... It hurt, a lot. You do realize that, right?"_

"Thank you," he muttered into the phone, relief flooding through him. "I just hope you can forgive me for what I did. I had been forced into a corner, and I couldn't think of any alternate choice." With that said, he laid back on his bed, getting ready for a _long_ night of explaining himself over the phone to the only person that could help him return to who he truly was.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer: I do NOT own anything you recognize. They belong to their respective owners, and it SUCKS! (what I wouldn't give to own at least one of the characters...)**_

_**Also, to those who have reviewed this story so far, thanks for the feedback! And Anonymous Rex, you are on the right track. Yes, the person he's tied to is an OC, and the others will, at some point, find out about who he actually is. But, as far as the person he's scared of being the Joker, well, you'll just have to wait for the next chapter. Though, if you know your Batman Comics, you might be able to figure it out before I post Chapter Three.**_

_The Secret Alias Conundrum_

_by SamiraGranger_

**Chapter Two**

Knock-knock-knock. "Penny." Knock-knock-knock. "Penny." Knock-knock-knock. "Penny." Standing in front of Penny's apartment as he did his standard knocking-pattern, Sheldon was waiting for her to open the door so he could ask her an important question.

As the door across from the apartment he shared with Leonard opened, he heard Penny say, "You do realize I stand on the other side of the door waiting for you to finish knocking three times."

Looking at the blonde girl with a straight face, he said, "I know. I can see the shadow of your feet under the door."

"Yeah, my point is it's a waste of time."

"If you're looking for an example of a waste of time," Sheldon said, "I would refer you to the conversation we're having right now."

Penny looked at him for a second before saying, "What do you want?"

Taking a settling breath, Sheldon said, "I've decided to take your advice and have arranged to prove to you and the others that I do not now or ever plan to make Amy Farrah Fowler my girlfriend."

The blonde looked at him, her mouth hanging open slightly. "Wait, what?", she asked. "What are you talking about?"

Sheldon looked at her with a look that would have been exasperation on anyone else, but was a regular look he had around Penny. "I said, I have arranged to prove to you and the others that I do not now or ever plan to make Amy Farrah Fowler my girlfriend," he repeated. "I swear, it's like talking to a child."

Penny gave him an incredulous look. "Yeah," she said. "How, exactly, do you plan on doing that?"

"I need you to drive me to the airport."

"What?"

Sheldon stopped her as she turned around to walk back into her apartment. "You know I don't drive," he told her. _But I'll be back on the streets again soon enough,_ he thought. _Just as soon as I know that she has completely forgiven me for what I did._

"Well, go ask Leonard," Penny said, hoping to get out of taking him all the way to the airport and back.

"I did," Sheldon informed her. "He said, and I quote, 'Ask Penny, it was her cockamamie idea that caused this.'"

Eyebrows furrowed in confusion, Penny said, "Leonard said cockamamie?"

Not looking completely at her, Sheldon said, "Actually, I'm paraphrasing. Having been raised in a Christian household, I'm uncomfortable with the language he used." Mentally rolling his eyes, he couldn't help but think, _Well, that's a complete lie. No matter, it wasn't the first, and surely won't be the last one._ Looking Penny in the eye, he continued, digging himself even deeper into the role he had been playing for at least the past seven years. "And to be honest, I'm not entirely comfortable with cockamamie."

"Okay, fine," Penny said. Glancing up at her neighbor and friend, she asked, "When do we have to go?"

"Now."

Penny looked up at him, shocked. "Now?" She was stunned at how egotistical the man was being, again.

"Hurry," Sheldon said. "We're going to be late."

"Sheldon," Penny said, holding her hands together, "did it ever occur to you that I might have other plans?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Do you have other plans?" He said the words in a tone that, if he had been anyone else, would be mistaken for condescending. Unfortunately for Penny, she didn't realize that he actually _was_ being condescending towards her at that moment, allowing himself to slowly progress back to who he used to be before being forced to move to the West Coast.

"Well," Penny found herself saying, "no, not per se, but..."

Sheldon tilted his head at her slightly. "So," he said, "this conversation is as pointless as your door-knocking soliloquy?" Hiding a smirk, he chuckled mentally in amusement at the smaller female.

Trying not to show her annoyance at the tall man in front of her, Penny finally gave in. "Let me get my... Cockamamie keys."

~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~

Driving down the highway towards the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, Sheldon sat in the passenger seat of Penny's Volkswagen as she drove. "Thank you for driving me," he said, nervously messing with the hem of the t-shirt he was wearing.

Penny turned her head to glance at him real fast. "You're welcome," she said, looking back at the road.

A few minutes passed without incident, before Sheldon took a glance down. Noticing what Penny was wearing on her feet, he found himself saying, "I wish you weren't wearing flip-flops. Dangerous to drive in flip-flops."

"Sheldon." The tone of Penny's voice was warning him not to push it.

"Sorry," he said. "I just don't want to be yet another flip-flop fatality." The words that he truly wanted to say instead went unspoken. _I just don't want to get into an accident before we arrive. _Looking out the window of the car, Sheldon tried to calm his nerves by paying attention to the passing scenery, at least what there was of a scenery.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Perking up a little at the words, Sheldon looked up and stared straight ahead. "Given your community-college education," he automatically said, "I encourage you to ask me as many as possible." Mentally, he cursed at himself for opening the doors to questions that could, and most likely would, come back to haunt him later. _Damn my stupid compulsions._

"Yeah," Penny drawled out. "Well, my question is, and I'm pretty sure I know the answer, have you ever been on a date before?"

Sheldon paused for a second before answering. "It depends," he finally said, trying to throw the girl off with his response. "Does square-dancing with my sister at a Teens for Jesus Fourth of July Hoedown count as a date?" Mentally snickering as the story George Jr. had told him when he had visited the man several years ago entered his mind, he waited for Penny's answer.

"No."

Sheldon looked at her for a second before turning his attention back to the passing scenery. "Then, no, I have never been on a date."

He couldn't see it, but he knew that Penny was now smiling a little smugly, thinking that she finally knew more about something than he did. _Little does she know,_ he thought smugly, as the mental image of the girl they were going to the airport to pick up entered his mind. Trying to keep the smile off his face, he took a deep, silent breath to try and calm himself down, once again.

"Okay," Penny said, the smugness she was feeling apparent in her tone. "Well, then, there's a couple of things you should probably know."

"I have a master's degree and two doctorates," Sheldon said, interrupting what he was sure would be a long-winded version of Penny's idea of how a date worked. "The things I should know, I do know."

Penny looked at him, mouth slightly open at yet another egotistical statement from the physicist. Turning her attention back to the road, she told him, "My point is, I know more about dating than you, and if you were as smart as you think you are, you would listen to me."

"If you know so much," Sheldon informed her, "how come I have a possible date waiting for me at the airport and you have nothing better to do than to drive me to her?" Giving her a look that was, for all intents and purposes, blank, he watched as she looked at him and tried to think of a come-back to his statement.

"Fair point."

~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~

"So, where is this mystery person we're here to pick up?"

Not even sparing Penny's remark an acknowledgment as he looked around the luggage-claim area of the airport, Sheldon was searching for the girl that had been on his mind for the entirety of the past few days. Glancing at the picture that he had transferred to his regular phone from when Missy had sent it to him shortly after talking to her, he was checking the faces of every female that passed them against it, trying to find the one girl that was currently consuming his thoughts. Ignoring Penny as she continued to try and get his attention to find out more about who they were waiting for, Sheldon paced around the small area he had told the girl he would be standing near.

Finally, after waiting about half an hour, he saw a flash of green near one of the entrances that the incoming passengers had to walk through to get their bags from the luggage carousel. Doing a double-take, his blue contacts focused on the color and tried to see who was wearing it. Taking a few steps closer, his eyes ran from the top of the person's head to the bottom of their feet and back up, over and over. His eyes widened as he raised his phone to eye-level so he could compare the person to the picture that was still up on the phone. Seeing that it was a near-perfect match, except for the clothes and the ponytail that the young woman's hair was in, a smile began to appear on his face.

"That's her," he whispered. "That's who I'm waiting for." Shrugging off the grasp that Penny had on his arm, he began walking over to the young woman that was wearing a bright green shirt with a question mark on it that was made out of all the different symbols that had been designed for the Batman over the years. Weaving his way through the small crowd that was always at the airport, he inched closer and closer to the girl. With each step he took in the direction of the distracted female, he could see her better.

He could see the way her hair flipped at the end with a natural wave. He could see how her brown hair had either a red or blonde shine to it, depending on the way the light was reflecting off it, revealing it to be auburn. He could see the way her clothes clung to her body, revealing enough to show off her curves, but not enough to show off everything about about her body. He could see the way her forehead creased in concentration as she tried to locate her luggage. He could see the natural pout on her lips when she noticed that the bag passing her wasn't the one she was looking for. He could see the way her face beamed and flushed as she looked up and saw him staring at her. He could see the way her storm-blue eyes sparked with life as she realized just who he was.

"SHELDON!"

Suddenly, he was stumbling backwards a few steps, the young woman in his arms after she had tried to tackle him to the ground. Regaining his footing, he didn't care that Penny was probably behind him, staring at the scene. Holding the young woman in his arms close to him in a tight hug, one hand on her lower back, the other just below her neck, he whispered into her ear, "It's good to see you, too, Sam." Closing his eyes, he buried his face into the woman's hair, using the hand near her neck to take her hair out of the perpetual ponytail that it was in. "Good God, I missed you so much." Tightening his hold on her even more, he heard her softly crying into his shoulder.

"E-... S-Sheldon," she choked out between quiet sobs, quickly correcting herself from slipping on his name, her arms wrapped under his arms and clutching the back of his shirt near the top. "W-why did you l-leave like that? I m-missed you, s-so much." He could feel her tears soaking through both of his shirts and onto his skin, but he didn't care.

"Shhhh," he muttered into her ear, the hand that held her hair-tie running through her hair in an attempt to calm the girl down. "It's alright, little sphinx. I'm here now, and I have no intention of pulling something like that anytime soon." Using her shoulder-blade length hair to hide what he was doing, he turned his head and placed a soft kiss just under her ear. "I promise you, I will _never_ leave you like that, ever again. I just wanted you to remain safe, and, like I told you the other night, that was the only thing I could think of at that time that would keep you protected."

Slowly, the young woman withdrew herself from his arms, but staying where she was. Wiping her face with the sleeves of her shirt, she looked into his eyes and smiled. "You always know exactly what to say, don't you? Just like always," she said in her soft, soprano voice. Clearing her throat as she took a step back to put some distance between them, she crossed her arms over her chest and glared up at the seven-inch taller man, not caring that her tear-streaked face lessened the intensity of the expression. "I know that what you told me on the phone the other night wasn't the full story, you jerk. I expect a full and complete explanation about what happened that caused you to move all the way out here when we return to your apartment, _Sheldon Lee Cooper._" Stressing his name, she tapped her foot in anger as she watched him sigh softly.

"Of course, my dear," he told her with a small smile on his face, already feeling like he was beginning to truly return to the way he was back before he was forced into hiding. "Now, let us see if we can locate your bags, hmm?" Draping an arm around her waist, he walked with her back over to the luggage carousel. "Now then," he said, "remind me what your luggage looks like, again, Samantha. I believe that I might have forgotten in my... absence."

Samantha laughed, choosing to ignore the unpleasant reminder about the fact that he had left her behind. "You know darn well what it looks like, Shelly," she told him. "After all, you're the one that gave it to me for Christmas, remember?" Just as she said that, a rather unique set of leather luggage appeared in front of them. Sheldon quickly recognized the set and chuckled as he jumped forward with her to grab the set.

Taking both bags from the woman despite her protests, he piled them on top of each other and rolled them away from the carousel, one arm remaining around Samantha's waist the entire time. "I should have known you'd use _this_ set, Sam," he said as he led her back over to Penny, rolling his eyes. "I _definitely_ remember how you squealed in excitement when you unwrapped it. I'll never forget the way your eyes lit up at the sight of the set, especially when you found out just _how _I acquired them."

Stopping in front of his blonde neighbor, he chuckled under his breath as he saw that Penny's mouth was wide open in shock at the fact that he hadn't lied to her. "Sam, this is Penny," he said as he tilted his head at her. "She lives across the hall, in apartment 4B, from Leonard and I back at the apartment complex."

"It's nice to meet you, Penny," Sam said, holding a hand out to the girl. "I'm Samantha Nashton, but please, call me Sam. I'm Shelly's girlfriend." Smiling at Penny as she watched her open and close her mouth like a fish, she chuckled. "I probably would have been here sooner, but Moon-Pie insisted on me making it as far as I could at my job before asking for a transfer." Snuggling into Sheldon's side as she felt him squeeze her waist a bit tighter, Sam looked the blonde over, smirking at her with a look that said 'I-know-something-you-don't-know'.

Penny shook her head for a second to try and get over her shock. Looking at Sam, she smiled slightly before taking her hand. Shaking the brunette's hand, she said, "It's nice to meet you too, Sam." Still stunned speechless for the most part as she let go of Sam's hand, Penny just stared at the reunited couple in front of her, wearing matching smirks. As she looked at them, she couldn't help but feel like she had seen the scene in front of her somewhere before. Blinking her eyes as she tried to figure out where she had seen it, she just pushed the feeling to the back of her mind to sort out later. "Well then," she said, "why don't we head on out of here and go back to the apartment complex?"

Sheldon looked up at Penny from where he had been gazing down at his shorter girlfriend. "Yes, please," he told her, standing up a bit straighter. Clearing his throat, he adjusted the grip he had on Sam's luggage as he let go of her waist. Clasping her hand in his, he said, "I-I think I'll sit in the backseat, with Sam, this time, Penny." Not caring that he just kept giving the poor girl shock by his drastically different actions, he rubbed a thumb over the top of Sam's hand as he felt her fingers clasped between his own.

The three of them walked out of the airport, not aware that one of the security cameras was focused entirely on them. As they walked out of sight, the camera zoomed back out and turned to survey the room. Far away, in a huge city on the other side of the nation, a man with dark hair nodded after he had watched the couple's reunion.

~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~

As Penny was driving the three of them back to Pasadena, Sheldon was sitting in the back seat with Sam leaning against his side. The silence in the car was thickening as they sped down the highway. Beginning to feel awkward as she watched Sheldon seem to act completely out-of-character for himself, Penny cleared her throat. "So, um, Sam," she said, trying to break what she felt was an awkward silence, "Sheldon tells me that you work for a huge company as a greeter, or something?"

Picking her head up from where it was resting on Sheldon's shoulder, Sam looked at the back of Penny's blonde head and smiled weakly. "I'm actually the secretary for the owner of an international company," she told her. "I guess you could say that my... _cousin_ got me the job, seeing that the owner of the company was his legal guardian before he moved to another city." Leaning forward a little as she noticed one of the lights on Penny's dashboard was on, she couldn't help but say, "You do realize that your check-engine light is on, right?"

Penny looked at her through the rear-view mirror. "Yeah," she said, "it's okay."

Sam looked at her with wide eyes. "Uh, no, it's not," Sam informed her. "Do you even know just what kind of damage you're doing to your car, or do you not even care? If that's been on for a while, you need to get this thing into a repair place, stat, just to make sure everything is okay..."

"Don't bother, Samantha," Sheldon said, chuckling as he interrupted what he was sure would have been another of the girl's infamous rants. "I've wasted many an hour tilting at that particular windmill."

"But, Shelly...", Sam protested.

Sheldon shook his head as she looked up at him, blue eyes wide in concern. "Just don't, Sam. It's another one of those lost causes," he told her, his hand messing with a lock of her hair that had been returned to it's ponytail.

Pouting as she realized that the man had a point, Samantha crossed her arms over her chest. "Doesn't mean I can't be worried, you know," she grumbled under her breath.

A few moments passed as what happened registered in Penny's head. Deciding to try again, she said, "Um, what is that scent you're wearing? It smells great." Looking behind her for a second, she saw that the girl was blushing at the question.

"Uh, well," Sam started, glancing up at Sheldon with wide eyes as he looked down at her. Seeing that the same question was now reflected in his eyes now that he realized that she was, indeed, wearing some sort of scent, she gulped. "It's... _Secret Wonderland _body lotion from Bath and Body Works," she confessed, her face red in embarrassment. "A... mutual _friend_ of Sheldon and I got it for me after he found out that I had a small preference for the scent. At the time, he had a bit of a... _crush_ on me, you could say, but another one of our mutual friends kept it from going any further, out of respect of my feelings for Shelly."

"Ah," Penny said. "Well, your skin looks very nice."

Seeing an opportunity to turn the embarrassment back on the driver, Sam looked at Penny with innocent eyes and asked, "Are you a lesbian?"

A look of shock crossed Penny's face. "No, no," she told her, stunned at the bizarre question. "I was just giving you a compliment."

"Hmm." Samantha leaned her head back down on Sheldon's shoulder. "Would have been more flattered if you were. I know some girls back home that I thought would like to meet you..." Leaving the statement off at that point, she mentally laughed as she thought about the ways the girl could take it. _Ah, if only she knew,_ Sam thought.

Suddenly, Penny began to reach over to the radio. "Guys, how 'bout some music?", she asked, hoping to not have to talk anymore to cover the silence.

Sheldon glanced at Penny for a second before saying, "Oh, no, I wouldn't care for that. Sam?" Looking down at the young woman that was pressed against his side, he smiled slightly as she shook her head.

"I'd rather not, as well," she said. "Even though I'm usually all for it, I can't be all that sure about what type of music you would choose. Especially if it's anything by that twit, Justin Bieber."

Penny withdrew her hand from it's position in front of the radio. "Okay," she muttered. "Uncomfortable silence it is." Not able to think of anything else to say, since she was sure that Sheldon had probably already told her of his life in Texas, she sighed, as that was the only topic she could think of. After that, the rest of the drive back to the apartments went by in silence.

~?~?~?~?~?~?~?~

Standing in front of the door to Sheldon and Leonard's apartment after Penny had left them alone in the hallway, Samantha rolled her eyes as she watched Sheldon try to unlock the door while holding onto her luggage. "Give me that before you hurt yourself," she finally said, grabbing her luggage from the man so he could finally open the apartment. "Just because you insist on being the gentleman, as usual, doesn't mean I can't take care of my own luggage, ya dum-dum."

Sheldon looked at her, shell-shocked, before a small smirk crossed his face. "Of course you can," he drawled out as he finally slipped the key into the lock. "I never had a doubt, little sphinx." He rolled his eyes as he unlocked the apartment and opened the door. Holding the door open for the young woman with him, he watched her shake her head in amusement as she entered the room. Looking up, he blinked as he saw that Leonard was sitting at his laptop, talking on his cell phone.

Sam opened her mouth to say something to Sheldon, but was stopped as his hand shot up and covered her mouth. Looking at him with a raised eyebrow, she could only watch as he put a finger against his lips, telling her to be quiet as he gestured towards his preoccupied roommate. 'He didn't know you were coming,' he mouthed to her. Her blue eyes lit up, a spark of mischief in them as Sheldon removed his hand from her mouth. A smirk danced upon her lips as he picked up her luggage with one hand after closing the door.

As he grabbed her hand and led her further into the apartment, they heard Leonard say into his phone, "Hey, Howard, what's up?"

"I've decided not to date Amy," Sheldon said to let Leonard know he was back. Seeing Sam's curious look, he shook his head, indicating that he would tell her later.

Leonard didn't even look up from what he was doing as he heard Sheldon's statement. "Yeah, yeah, great," he said. As the reunited couple began making their way towards Sheldon's bedroom, they heard Leonard say, "Howard, uh, slow down. What do you mean it happened _again_?"


End file.
